As a young person growing up in Ventura County for the past 19 years, I am no stranger to droughts. Not watering the lawn and taking shorter showers is simply a part of life in Southern California. Although water is scarce in Ventura County, there is currently a direct threat to our drinking water. Unfortunately, the oil industry wants to profit at the expense of our precious groundwater that supplies drinking water to over 400,000 Ventura County residents and irrigation water to our $2 billion agriculture economy.
-Written by Alex Masci, an undergraduate in environmental studies at UC Berkeley, a coordinator with CA Youth Vs Big Oil, and a supporter of VC-SAFE.